Is this the year the Habs bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada?

Ed. here. We welcome the return of our National Sports (As Long As It's Hockey) Editor, Poor Len Canayen.

Tank youse, Hed. The last Canadian (or Canada-based) team to win the Stanley Cup, emblematic of the championship of the National Hockey League, was the Montréal Canadiens, who brought Lord Stanley's silverware home in 1993. They defeated the Los Angeles Kings in that year's final series. 

Since then, no Canadian team has won the Cup. And no Canadian team has played in the finals since 2021, when the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Habs (for it was them, again) 4 games to 1.

In about 200 minutes, the same two teams will do battle again. in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. They finished the 2025-26 season 2nd (Lightning) and 3rd in the Atlantic Division, behind the surprising Buffalo Sabres by a mere 2 points. Whichever team wins this round will likely meet the Sabres next. 

Who will win tonight? As I point my TV antenna towards Florida, I think of the last match between the Habs and the Bolts in the regular season. It was like the old Henny Youngman joke: I went to the fights the other night and a hockey game broke out! 

Les Glorieux gave as good as they got, and I don't think they're going to be bested in the rough stuff department tonight. I also think the Habs can compete in goal. They have the luxury of two goalies -- the two Jakes -- with save percentages of over.900. TB has only the one. 

As for scoring, Habs are better per the stats after an amazing season. How can anyone stop a power play unit consisting of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson?! The question is defence. 

The loss of Noah Dobson hurts. Alexandre Carrier may be able to play, maybe not. So that puts a lot of pressure on Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj. They've improved greatly in the second half of the season, but can they handle 20 minutes per game? It may come to that because coach will be reluctant to give much ice time to David Reinbacher and Adam Engstrom who, IMHO, aren't yet ready for prime time yet. 

I hear you asking for a prediction. My heart tells me Habs in 7, but I wouldn't bet on it! Ed. says some blog posts end suddenly and inconclusively. This is one of them.

VIDEO: Poor Len reviews last night's Canadiens vs Senators game (?)

You know the old Henny Youngman joke: "I went to the fights the other night and a hockey game broke out!" Here's our National Sports (as long as it's hockey) Editor, Poor Len Canayen, with his take on last night's tilt in North America's most beautiful second-tier (state/provincial) capital.

Tank youse, Hed! Hockey fans in Québec (the city) are still pissed at Gary Bitchmann, the non-skating Jew who is czar of the so-called National Hockey League. It is he, and he alone, who stands in the way of the return of NHL hockey to Québec City, former home of the much-missed Québec Nordiques, who fell victims of wee Gary's drive to make "National" mean "American", and American only. Perhaps he's one of those behind President Trump's constant allusions to making Canada "the 51st state"?

But I digest. NHL hockey was played last night in the fine Centre Vidéotron, where the Ottawa Senators, the home team for the night, received the Montréal Canadiens in a thrilling match which delighted the multitude of Habs fans in attendance... Sens fans not so much.

       

Interviewed after the game, Habs D-man Alexandre Carrier said, "Rendu en troisième, on ne jouait plus vraiment au hockey." True enough. Between them, the teams racked up 152 penalty minutes in a fight-filled 5-0 victory for les Glorieux.

At the centre of the mêlée were the Xhekaj brothers, Arber and Florian, with two fights each. Florian fought Jan Jenik in the first period, and Arber and Jenik traded blows in the second. Then, in the third, both brothers fought on the same shift when Arber took on Zack MacEwen and Florian battled with Carter Yakemchuk near the Habs' bench. The brothers combined for 31 penalty minutes and were both ejected from the game, along with MacEwen, after those third-period fights. 

Also in the third period, Senators forward Nick Cousins was penalized for an egregious slash on tiny but terrible Canadiens rookie Ivan Demidov, who, along with Lane Hutson, put on a skating and stick-handling clinic that deserved a standing O.

For the record, the Canadiens' goals were scored by Oliver Kapanen, Patrik Laine, Alexandre Carrier, Lane Hutson and Kirby Dach, three of the goals coming on the power play. Assist went to Dach, Demidov, Hutson and Laine, as well as Alex Newhook, Mike Matheson, and Brendan Gallagher.

The victory was largely due to the fine work of the young players, but the contribution of the old pros should be noted. It was good to see Dach figure in the scoring. We hope doing so will help him regain his self-confidence. And Brendan Gallagher... what can we say except "We love ya!"

Last night was perhaps the last opportunity for players who are "on the bubble" to show that they deserve to stay with the Big Team when final cuts are made after Saturday's last pre-season game at Ottawa. Owen Beck, Joe Veleno, Samuel Blais and Zach Bolduc were present last night but did nothing in particular to help or hurt themselves.   

The best of the prospects, IMHO, was Kapanen, whose goal last night was the icing on the cake of a strong performance. My money's on him to be in the starting line-up for the first regular season game, along with maybe Beck. The season opener is October 8th, at Toronto.

We leave you with a pic from last night's game: Jayden Struble on top of Jan Jenik.

If you like your hockey like a good steak... bloody... this was your kind of game!

Footnote added at 1235 FMT: The blatant attempts of certain Ottawa players to inflict serious physical damage on the smaller and better Canadiens did not go unnoced by the NHL Department of Player Safety. Nick Cousins has been fined $2148.44 -- the maximum permitted under the agreement with the players -- for his vicious slash on the arm of Ivan Demidov. Hayden Hodgson was fined $2148.44 for boarding Alex Newhook. The money goes to the NHL Players Emergency Fund.

How are the Habs doing? Are they going to make the playoffs?

While we wait for the shoes -- the Trump tariffs -- to drop, let's talk hockey. 

Last night's game between the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and our beloved Montréal Canadiens was a real thriller. With 10 seconds left on the clock, Habs captain Nick Suzuki scored to lift les Glorieux into a 2-2 tie. Then he did it again at 30 second of the OT, et les boyz ont remporté la victoire, 3 à 2. Olé, olé, olé!

At this point we'd turn this space over to Poor Len Canayen, our National Sports (as long ss it's hockey) Editor, but Len is on sabbatical or something like that, so we're taking the liberty of posting a mash-up of Global TV's Brian Wilde's "Call of the Wilde", which says everything that Len would have said, only better. [And with no run-on sentences. Ed.] Thanks, Brian!

With nine games to play and six at home, the Montréal Canadiens have the advantage for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The opportunity is in front of them, but they have to keep executing. 

Every night is Lane Hutson Night. The assault on the record book continues. He's a point-per-game player since the Four Nations break. Hutson notched an assist on the first goal for the Canadiens on a deflection from Josh Anderson. That line was a handful and the best on the night for Montreal. 

Hutson now has 57 assists in his rookie season. He has moved ahead of Chris Chelios for second in assists all-time for a rookie defender. He trails only Larry Murphy for assists for a rearguard rookie in the history of the National Hockey League. Murphy had 60 assists. Three in eight games for the tie. 

Hutson's 62 points overall is also top-ten in the history of the game for rookie defenders. He could conceivably rise to third overall at his present pace. It must be stressed again that the entire top-15 list is from an era where the average goal total in a contest was 11 or 12; not six or seven goals.

The best this century before Hutson was Quinn Hughes with 53 points on 45 assists. Hutson has obliterated the best numbers in the last 25 years of rookies on the blue line. Hutson is remarkable. They might just scout differently. this kid is so special. 

Smaller players with world-class vision and creativity might not be treated like they will never make the major leagues. What doesn't get enough attention as he makes his meteoric rise to the upper echelon in the history of the game is he is improving tremendously in his own zone as well. 

The Canadiens are in the mix for a playoff spot, and Hutson is, without a doubt, the single biggest change to this roster from last season. Nick Suzuki is having his best campaign. Cole Caufield has had a strong season. Juraj Slafkovsky has had an excellent second half. The Dvorak line is giving the opposition fits these days. Brendan Gallagher is playing the best hockey he has played in years, and Christian Dvorak's best moments as a Canadiens player are right now.

The fourth line had their remarkable run when they were best in the league in goals at one point for a fourth line. On defence, Jayden Struble has improved. Kaiden Guhle is improving still. Alexandre Carrier was a great addition via trade. 

However, all of those reason pale in comparison to the difference Hutson has made to this team in five months. He is just getting started. There are times that it is apparent that he will be even better than this when he sees how much he can actually fool the opposition. They have seen what he can do. They have adapted to him as well as they can. He still is playing chess to their checkers.The rebuild is going just fine, Montréal! 

Poor Len Canayen looks at the Habs' chances in the coming season

Ed. here. The results in the Montréal Canadiensè first two NHL pre-season games have roused our National Sports (read: Hockey) Editor, Poor Len Canayen, from his off-season torpor, so it's over to him for his thoughts on the outlook for the 2024-25 season.

Tank youse, Hed. To be `onest, I'm not awake yet. The Canadiens' goaltending team pitched deux jeux blancs -- two shutouts -- in two nights, as la Sainte Flannelle beat Philthydelphia 5-0 on Monday night, and Jersey 3-0 last night. It must be a dream!

I just hope I don't have a rude awakening when the regular season starts in a couple of weeks. A lot of changes were made over the summer, and dreams of the Stanley Cup, or at least getting into the playoffs, fill the heads of all Habs fans.

And rightly so. The Canadiens have nailed every step of their rebuild, from the front office and head coaching hires to the draft selections and everything in between. They head into the 2024-26 season not only to put an exciting produce on the ice, but to take a big leap upward in the standings. Here are the players, old and new, to watch.

Let's start with the goaltending situation, which I worry is the big IF in my prediction of a playoff finish. Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau are expected to share the duties with Montembault getting the lion's share. But is he up to being king of the jungle? He certainly looked like it last night, stopping all 11 shots he faced over the 31:28 he played. 

Primeau did equally well on Monday, but to my mind is still the perennial backup, not that there's anything wrong with that. Waiting in Laval will be Jakub Dobes and Connor Hughes, both of whom stood tall (6'4") in their debuts. If the save percentage of either Montembeault or Primeau slips below .900, Dobes or Hughes look capable of stepping up. If we can judge by just two pre-season games, Habs goaltending looks like being better than expected.

All four Montréal goalies are going to need more help than they got from last season's inconsistent defence. For some reason, GM Kent Hughes traded Jonathan Kovacevic to New Jersey, but kep the risky Justin Barron, who last year seemed unaware that his job was to defend, not carry the puck into the opposition's corner. Fortunately the Habs have exciting rookies to shore up the blueline.

Lane Hutson, the controversial Logan Mailloux, David Reinbacher and William Trudeau [no relation. Ed.] all look ready for the Big Team. Trudeau looks like a good playmaker, with two assists last night. But not all of them are going to start with the A-team. Arber Xhekaj, Jayden Struble, Kayden Guhle,  David Savard, and Mike Matheson (such a fine skater!) all have positions nailed down so that leaves just two spots to fill, out of the four above-mentioned. Looks to me like defence is not going to be the Habs' problem this year.

Their problem will be to get more scoring. There were way too many one-goal games last year, and you're never going to make the playoffs scoring 2.34 goals per game. The first line is set. Cole Caufield, Captain Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slavkovsky (all under 24!) developed great chemistry last year, and the improvement in Slavkovsky's confidence level and play was great to see. If they can keep it up this year -- and stay healtrhy too -- they'll be one of the NHL's top forward lines.

It's the next line that looks questionable. So far, Kirby Dach has been centring Alex Newhook and Patrik Laine, acquired from Columbis over the summer.  But both Dach and Newhook are natural centres -- playmakers, not scorers. Laine is supposed to be the hotshot scorer, but I see him as a rehabilitation project. He missed most of last season because of an injury and then some sort of substance abuse problem. He played over 16 minutes in the game against Philly and took five shots, none of which went in. If he can stay healthy, and off the sauce (or whatever it was), he might once again become a feared sniper. But I said "might".

There are lots of players, young and old, to make up the bottom six. Michael Pezzetta had 2 goals last night, and every team needs a gritty guy like that. Brendan Gallagher is back. He won't do much on the ice, but he'll try his best and remains an inspiration to the others. Likewise Joel Armia, invaluable on the PK.  

There's a long list of newcomers, all of whom may, with time and good coaching, rise to the top. Noted in the two pre-season games were: LW Florian Xhekaj (Arber's little brother); RW Joshua Roy, who played a couple of games late last year; C Owen Beck, very talented but only 20, needs seasoning; and LW Luke Tuch, whose name alone will give the play-by-play guys a headache.

Without going through the rest of the roster, I'll just say that there are a lot of good prospects there, including an abundance of centres and a strong contingent of gars de chez nous. Les Glorieux are  playing in the toughest division of the NHL, but I predict, with confidence, that they will have a winning season, with over 95 points, which should be just enough to get them into the playoffs. Lifetime percentage .989.

"Better than expected!" Poor Len reviews the Habs' first quarter

Salut! Poor Len Canayen icitte, with a look at the performance of Canada's team -- the Montréal Canadiens -- as we hit American Thanksgiving.

The significance of the date is that conventional wisdom says that any team which is over .500 at this point in the schedule is bound for the playoffs. Well, guess what? Les Glorieux, after their 20th game on Wednesday -- a thrilling 3-1 victory over Columbus -- are .525! Whoda thunk it?!

Here's how we get there. GP 20 - W 10 - L 9 - OL 1 - good for 21 points, 6th place in the Atlantic Division, and 18th place in the NHL overall.

Kudos to coach Martin St. Louis for moulding a group of rookies, hasbeens and neverwases into a team (or something like it) which plays entertaining hockey. Even when they fall behind 2-0 in the first two minutes. Even when a rookie defenceman scores an own goal, which happened twice in the last week. 

The Habs are fun to watch, and we fans can wear our merch with pride... unlike the fans of another team just five hours west on  the 401. [Can you avoid local references? Americans won't know what you're talking about. Ed.] [Who cares? Len.]

Star performers include the dynamic duo of Captain Nick Suzuki and Cole "Goal" Caufield. Gotta love those kids! They need a better player on the right of that top line, but even so, they're right up there with the likes of Crosby and Malkin or Bergeron and Marchand. Ils ont gagné leurs épaulettes!

Unfortunately, that's about it for the stars. The clubs No. 1 draft pick, Juraj Slafkovsky, has potential, and they're being careful not to push him too far too fast, but I wouldn't count on him for much this season.

Rookie defenceman Kaiden Guhle is proving reliable, if unspectacular,  whereas Arber Xekaj (unaccountably pronounced "Jackeye") is the opposite -- spectacular (already a fan favourite) but unreliable.  

In goal, Samuel Montembault shows considerable improvement, and a good thing too as the old pro, Jake Allen, is starting to suffer from shell-shock. As the +/- stat, -9, shows, they need a better defence in front of them. Weak links need to be replaced if the Habs are going to make it into the playoffs. 

That said, I humbly revise my pre-season prediction that the Canadiens would finish out of the playoffs. Now I think that, with a bit of puck luck, le Canadien sera là! Lifetime pct .988.

UPDATE ADDED 26/11: Yesterday afternoon the Habs eked out a 3-2 shootout win over Chicago, with shootout goals by Caufield, Suzuki and linemate Kirby Dach. 

How about those Blackhawks retro sweaters? Chief Black Hawk has been reduced to a tiny patch on one shoulder. I expect he'll soon disappear altogether, like Cleveland's Chief Wahoo. When will the wokeness stop?!

VIDEO: Incredible! Detroit goalie scores one for the other guys

Ed. here. I thought we were done for the day, maybe for the weekend, but our National Sports Editor (As Long As It's Hockey), Poor Len Canayen, just sent us this clip from Thursday night's encounter between the Minnesota Wild and the Detroit Red Wings. The game was tied 1-1, and then this happened.

 

It was a terrible night for Alex Nedeljkovic. That remarkable own goal put the Wild things ahead 2-1, but the Wings fought back and at the end of regulation time the score was tied, 5-up. So also at the end of the 5-minute overtime. So it went to a shootout, and... you guessed it. Final score, 6-5 Minnesota.

Poor Len will be along one of these daze with a report on how new coach Martin St Louis has turned the Montréal Canadiens into a team that's in danger of losing the Shane Wright sweepstakes.

Canadiens vs Vegas Playoff Schedule

Dear readers, please excuse me, in advance, for any lapses in posting to WWW over the next couple of weeks. The National Hockey League semi-final playoffs have begun, with the Tampa Bay Lightning facing the New York Islanders in the east, and the Las Vegas Golden Knights meeting the Montréal Canadiens, the (unofficial) Canadian champions, in the north-west matchup.

 Yesterday afternoon the underdog Islanders defeated the Lighning in Game 1 of their series, by a score of 2-1. My money is still on TB. The Vegas bookies are offering long odds on the Habs. I don't advocate betting from the heart, but will be putting down a sawbuck or two on les Glorieux, before the odds shorten.

Game 1 goes tonight. Here's the complete schedule, all times EDT, with notes on which TV channels will have the games. For US readers, TVAS is TVA Sports (French), SN is SportsNet (Canada's answer to ESPN), and CBC is the state-owned Canadian Broadcorping Castration.

Game 1 - Mon, Jun 14 - Montréal @ Vegas 9:00 PM - TVAS, NBCSN, CBC, SN

Game 2 - Wed, Jun 16 - Montréal @ Vegas 9:00 PM - TVAS, NBCSN, CBC, SN

Game 3 - Fri, Jun 18 - Vegas @ Montréal 8:00 PM - TVAS, USA, CBC, SN

Game 4 - Sun, Jun 20 - Vegas @ Montréal 8:00 PM -, TVAS, NBCSN, CBC, SN

Game 5 (if needed) - Tue, Jun 22 - Montréal @ Vegas 9:00 PM - TVAS, NBCSN, SN

Game 6 (ditto) - Thu, Jun 24 - Vegas @ Montréal 8:00 PM - TVAS, NBCSN, CBC, SN

Game 7 (ditto) - Sat, Jun 26 Montréal @ Vegas 8:00 PM - TVAS, NBCSN, CBC, SN

Shame on the CBC for not carrying game 5. They bailed on Game 3 of the Montréal-Winnipeg series too, just proving yet again that Canada's national winter sport just isn't that important to the Canada's oh-so-woke "national" network. Poor Len Canayen and I will be watching on TVA!

Here, from La Presse, is the probable Canadiens lineup for tonight.

Forwards

Lehkonen-Danault-Gallagher 

Toffoli-Suzuki-Caufield 

Byron-Kotkaniemi-Anderson 

Perry-Staal-Armia 

Surnuméraires : Tatar-Frolik-Belzile 

Defence

Chiarot-Weber

Kulak-Edmundson

Romanov-Gustafsson

Surnuméraires : Ouellet-Fleury

Montréal Canadiens - Canadian Champions!

Ed. here. Last night we received a message from a sports bar not 1000 miles west of le Centre Bell, where our National Sports Editor was in a celebratory mood.

Hooboy, Hed! Where are ya buddy? Lemme buy you a beer, a Canadian beer, not that American stuff which is like a couple making out in a canoe. [Readers puzzled by that reference may contact me by e-mail. Ed.] 

In fact I'll buy you two beers, to equal the number of chances people thought the Montréal Canadiens had of going deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs. Because, by golly, tonight they swept the Winnipeg Jets -- four games straight! -- to become the champions of the National Hockey League's Northern (read: Canadian) division.

To explain that... This season, because the World's Longest Undefended Border (TM) was effectively closed to prevent the spread of the kung flu, the NHL (G. Bettman, Prop.) reorganized its four divisions so that one of them, the Northern Division, was comprised only of Canada-based teams, thereby becoming the (unofficial) "Canadian Division" -- a dream come true for Canadian fans.

During the shortened regular season, the Canadian division was, by most accounts, the weakest of the four. The stats proved it. The Canadiens finished 4th in the division, 18th overall, with a goals for/against record of -9. Yet, since the Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames couldn't even do that well, the Habs qualified for the playoffs.

The Canadiens, lacking any big stars (except Carey Price, whose star has dimmed somewhat in recent years) were widely expected to win maybe one game vs the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs, and then go golfing. Wrong! After playing rope-a-dope for four games, they came back to win the last three, confirming the Laffs' reputation as Allstar Chokers.

That took the Habs to the quarter-finals against the Jets, the team that had swept Connor McDavid's Edmonton Oilers in four straight. Again, the Habs were the underdogs. Again they emerged victorious, winning four straight games -- including tonight's 3-2 overtime victory -- to earn the soubriquet Les Glorieux.  

How could that be?! How does a team of two 30-something players getting multi-millions a year without scoring goals, plus four kids with roughly seven years of NHL experience among them, beat teams whose players include trophy winners for scoring and not being scored on?

On paper, and according to the regular season stats, the Canadiens compare unfavourably to both Toronto and Winterpeg. But in the playoffs, certain intangible, unmeasurable factors are in play, the greatest of these being the ability to function as a true team, with a shared and instinctive understanding of how to "play right" and a common will to win!

It is hard to pick just three stars of the win over Winnipeg. Everybody contributed! Carey Price, who went into the game with a GAA of 1.67, look less than superhuman, especially on the second Winnipeg goal, but still, two was all the Jets could manage. That's thinks in large part to a fine defence, even with Jeff Petry, arguably the Habs best D-man, out with an injured hand. In fact, the previously suspect Érik Gustaffson, got Montréal's first goal, on the power play.

The injury to Petry gave rookie Alexander Romanov the chance to appear in his first playoff game, and he acquitted himself well enough. Kudos to defence coach Luke Richardson for figuring out how to pair his weaker D-men with stronger partners to make it impossible for the Jets to put more than 16 shots on Price.  

The Canadiens' forwards, by contrast, had 42 shots on Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who should get some kind of award for heroism under fire. Throughout the playoffs (unlike the regular season) the Habs' real strength has been their ability to roll four lines of more or less equal strength. 

The "greybeards" line -- Joel Armia, Eric Staal and Corey Perry -- nominally fourth, looked more like the top line at times, with Armia scoring a couple of key goals, as did Perry who was involved in at least half the highlight reel plays. The erstwhile first line -- Arturi Lehkonen (in the absence of Tomas Tatar), Philip Danault and the inspirational Brendan Gallagher -- was a factor throughout. Danault was particularly good last night.

The Habs' "kids" -- Nick Suzuki, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and rookie phenom Cole Caufield -- were very impressive, especially Suzuki and Caufield who combined on a couple of really pretty scoring plays. If those two had been played in the first games against the Leafs, that series might have ended sooner. 

Last but not least, a round of applause for speedster Paul Byron, who scored a short-handed goal while lying prone on the ice, and old pros Josh Anderson and Tyler Toffoli, astutely acquired by GM Marc Bergevin in the off season. Toffoli (#73 in the photo) led les Glorieux in scoring during the regular season, and scored the overtime winner against the Jets, on a perfect pass from the Caufield (the little guy in the middle).   

All in all, a terrific team effort. The 2021 Canadiens may not be one of the best-ever Montréal teams, but they have been a great team for seven straight games. They go on now to face the Las Vegas Golden Knights or the Colorado Avalance -- whoever wins the Western Division -- who will be underestimate them at their peril. As the Hockey Guy said in today's review, "It's beginning to look a lot like 1993." 

Anus horribilis 2020: Noted in passing (Sports... well, Hockey)

Ed. here. 2020 is almost over, thank God, truly an Annus Horribilis if ever there was one. (I know my Latin but Walt insists on leaving the headline as he wrote it.) Here is the final (no kidding) segment of our yearend review, saying farewell to some people in the sports and music fields -- really just subsets of the entertainment field -- who deserve a final tip of the toque.

We're going to do sports first, which for us means hockey. Is there any other sport? Poor Len Canayen already weighed in with his Sports Highlight of the Year, but that wasn't an obituary, so over to you, Len to tell us about... well, you tell it. 

Tank youse, Walt. A number of NHL players, past and present, died this year. Some were famous, some not. Among the latter was Fred Sasakamoose, who died on 24 November 2020 at the age of 86, five days after being hospitalized with Covid-19. 

Fred toiled in the minor leagues for six or seven years, playing just one season for the NHL Chicago Blackhawks. He appeared in just 11 games in the 1953-54 season, taking 6 minutes in penalties and scoring 0 goals and 0 assists -- 0 points in all.

So why is the passing of Fred Sasakamoose worthy of note? Well sir, he was the first First Nations (Americans read: Native American) player to suit up for an NHL team, and that was back in the `50s, before anyone heard of indigenous rights or diversity. And before SJWs started demanding that the Chicago team change their name and lose Chief Blackhawk from their logo.

That's what the NHL says, but real hockey fans will ask: What about George Armstrong, who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs for two games in 1949-50, and again for a remarkable 20 seasons, 1951-71. I always thought "the Big Chief" was an Indian (as we called them in those politically incorrect days), but the distinction seems to be that he was not a treaty Indian, whereas Sasakamoose was born in Debden SK which is the headquarters of the Big River Cree First Nations band government. That makes him an "official" First Nations person.

No matter. Hockey was pretty much a white man's game in those days and it wouldn't have been easy for Sasakamoose (or Armstrong) to be accepted and travel with his team to places like, say, New York or Boston. But he did it, and inspired others to follow in his footsteps... errr, skate grooves. Well done. 

Regular readers of WWW will know that Walt and I [and Ed.! Ed.] are huge fans of Canada's team, the Montréal Canadiens. Henri Richard, one of the greatest players ever to wear la Sainte Flannelle passed away on 6 March 2020. 

He was called "the Pocket Rocket" because he was the younger brother of the legendary Maurice "Rocket" Richard. Some said he was drafted by the Habs because of the family connection, but he proved the skeptics wrong, starring with les Glorieux for the entirety of his 20-season professional career. He won 11 Stanley Cups as a player, the most in the history of not just the Canadiens but the entire National Hockey League. 

In the league's centennial year of 2017, both Richards were named among "the 100 Greatest NHL Players" of all time. Henri shared the ice with many of the Canadiens' greatest stars: Jean Béliveau, Jacques Plante, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion and Dickie Moore. He succeeded Béliveau as the Habs' captain in 1971. 

Other than the Canadiens' junior team, Henri Richard never played for another team during his career. "Because of the age difference, I didn't think it would be possible but I played with my brother for five years [1955-1960]," he told the Hockey Hall of Fame. "Maurice used to say that if I hadn't been there, he wouldn't have played that long. Some people say it was destiny, but I just think I was in the right place at the right time. That was a great team. There were so many great hockey players. I wouldn't have said it before, but now that it's all over, I thought winning like that was normal."

And so it was, during those glory years. It is the success of the Canadiens of Henri Richard's era, and of the Pocket Rocket himself, that gives us here at WWW hope for the future. Maybe this year will see the Stanley Cup return to Canada after a long absence. That would make Henri happy. His brother too.

Poor Len Canayen's advice for Habs' coach

After over four months of no hockey -- death, for a true Canuck sports fan -- the National Hockey League (((G. Bettman, Prop.))) resumed its 2019-20 season yesterday, with a slate of exhibition games, to be followed by playoffs beginning August 1st. Our National Sports Editor, Poor Len Canayen, viewed the match between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montréal Canadiens. Here are his comments.

Tank youse, Ed. What I saw on the idiot's lantern last night was not so much a win for the Maple Laffs as a loss for la Sainte Flannelle. The final score was 4-2 for the boys in white and blue. Two of the Leafs' four goals were scored while the Habs were on the power play. Maybe now we should call it the powerless play. I'll come to that in a moment.

The other problem Canada's team has -- one they struggled with throughout the abbreviated regular season -- is playing only 18 minutes per 20-minute period. It seems to take the first minute of each period for them to wake up. Then, when the stadium announcer intones "ONE minute remaining in the period", they stop playing to see what will happen. The other two goals, last night, were scored against them at 0:33 of the first period and 19:35 of the second period.

I have a solution for dat. What Coach Claude Julien should do is put an extra man on the ice at the beginning of the first period and when the clock shows one minute left in all three periods. That will result in a "too many men" penalty, forcing the team to play short-handed for the first and last minutes of every period, which they do pretty well. I should mention excellent work by Paul Byron and Arturri Lekkonen on the PK last night. Problem solved!

As for giving up goals while they have the man advantage, one possibility would be to punish severely [How? Ed.] power players who stand at the opposing team's blueline waiting for the defence to recover the puck. A better solution, given last night's performance, might be to comb through the NHL rulebook and see if it's possible to decline a penalty, as can be done in football. They played well enough 5-on-5, so next time an opponent hooks or hacks a Hab, Coach Julien should wave at the refugees -- those guys in the black and white stripes -- and say "That's OK. We don't really mind. Let's just play on."

Another problem solved through the power of creative hockey analysis. The Canadiens have three days to rest up and think about those things. Next game, the first of the "play-ins" vs Sid the Kid and the other Penguins, will be on Saturday night. Stay tuned!

Poor Len Canayen: the year the flu cancelled the Stanley Cup

Ed. here. With the National Hockey League forced to "pause" its season -- in the words of (((Gary Bettman))) -- and probably the playoffs too, we didn't expect our National Sports Editor, Poor Len Canayen, to contribute anything until whenever play resumes, probably in the fall. But here he is, with a timely story about the year the Stanley Cup was not awarded.

Today, April 5th, A.D. 2020, is the 101st anniversary of the death of Joe Hall. [Who he? Ed.] Tanks, Hed., for asking. Joe Hall played for the 1918-19 edition of Canada's team, the Montréal Canadiens. That season, only the second for the NHL (founded in 1917), the Habs had finished at the top of the standings, and in March of 1919 went to Seattle to play the Seattle Metropolitans, of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, for the Stanley Cup.

The bleu-blanc-et-rouge were looking for revenge. They had won Lord Stanley's silverware, emblematic of North American (and therefore world) hockey supremacy, in 1916, defeating the Portland OR Rosebuds. (Seriously. That was the team's name.) But the Metropolitans thrashed the Canadiens the following year, bringing the trophy back to the west coast.

In 1918 the Toronto Arenas (or Blueshirts, depending on whose history you read) defeated the Vancouver Millionaires, [Where did they get these names? Ed.] in a series held in Toronto. This was back in the daze when transcontinental travel was a big deal, so the series alternated between the east and west, which meant that Seattle would be the venue for the 1919 rematch between the Metropolitans (no-one had dubbed them them "Mets") and the Canadiens.

Unfortunately, the "Spanish flu" got to Seattle before the Habs did. The epidemic is thought to have started at Camp Funston, in Kansas, in March 1918. From there it went with American doughboys to Europe, where it mutated in the trenches of the Great War, and spread around the world. The name "Spanish influenza" resulted from Spain's neutrality during WWI, which meant that Spanish newspapers, unlike those of the belligerent nations, did not censor news of the devastation caused by the disease.

The Spanish flu came back to North America wih wounded soldiers in the summer of 1918, and spread quickly and with deadly effect across the major cities of the USA and Canada. About 8500 Chicagoans died in September and October. In New York City, 851 people died in a single day. In Toronto, more than 1600 people died in the last three weeks of October. Montréal reported over 16,000 cases in that same month. In the East, the disease seemed to disappear by December of 2018, but in the West, Seattle suffered through its worst month of the epidemic.

The Canadiens arrived in Seattle on 18 March 1919. That spring's series had all the makings of a classic, but turned into a tragedy. Five games were hotly contested, with Seattle thrashing the Habs in games 1 and 3. Montréal prevailed in game 2. Game 4 was an epic, ending, after two 10-minute overtime periods, in a scoreless tie! Game 5 also went into overtime, with la Sainte Flannelle coming out on top.

So as April Fool's Day of 2019 dawned, the two te4ams were even, with two wins apiece and the 0-0 tie. A victory for either team in Game 6 would mean the Stanley Cup. Both teams appeared to be tiring, but it wasn't fatigue. It was the Spanish flu. On the morning of April 1st, George Kennedy, the Canadiens' owner/manager, and three players were confined to their hotel. Joe Hall and a teammate had fevers of 104 degrees and were taken to Providence Hospital.

The game that night was cancelled. There was some talk that Game 6 might be played later, perhaps in Vancouver BC, which had not been so hard hit, once the players recovered. But it was not to be. Joe Hall died in Sattle's Columbus Sanitarium on April 5th. Two teammates and the owner died later. No winner for 1919 was ever declared.

Footnote: More than half a century after the NHL started expanding in 1967, Seattle will finally get a team in the Big League, starting in the 2021-22 season, if such event ever eventuates. The name of the new franchise is as yet unknown, but it probably won't be the Metropolitans... or the Rosebuds.

Another footnote: For a long time it looked as if there couldn't possibly be another season in which there would be no Stanley Cup champion. Then along came Mr Bitchman, on whose watch the NHL saw the entire 2004-5 season cancelled. If the Cup is not awarded this year, as seems likely, it won't be his fault... this time... just the flu... again. But take heart, hockey fans. Hockey survived, the NHL survived, the Montréal Canadiens not only survived, but came back stronger than ever!

Poor Len Canayen's first look at the 2019-20 Montréal Canadiens

Ed. here, welcoming our hockey-lovin' buddy, Poor Len Canayen, back from his summer hibernation. (He burrows into the sand around the 29th of June and pokes his head out on Labour Day to see if there's ice in the Bell Centre yet, in which case he puts on his hockey sweater.) He watched the Montréal Canadiens first pre-season game at the Bell Centre last night and send this report.

Tank youse, Ed. Last night's game -- New Jersey Devils @ Montréal Canadiens -- wasn't good hockey, but you wouldn't expect that for the very first game, eh. Both teams looked as if they'd just met during the warm-up.

There was a noticeable lack of cohesion, loads of errant passes and turnovers, plus a certain lack of physicality. More like a scrimmage than a game. But hey, no-one wants to get hurt right out of the gate, and everyone wants to impress the coach and GM to avoid getting sent down to the farm. Click here to see the TSN/NHL video highlights.

Going by shots on goal, the Devils had the better of the play, especially in the second half of the game, but Les Glorieux emerged victorious, with 4 goals to the Devils' 2. Carey Price allowed one goal on 9 shots in 30:08, and rookie goalie Cayden Primeau, who played college hockey in the USA last year, looked good in stopping 16 of 17, including a spectacular save on NJ's Nico Hirschier just a minute or so after he took over from Price in the 2nd period. Keith Kinkaid is slotted to be the regular backup to Price once the season starts, but Primeau will make it a three-way fight for the starting position with the Laval Rocket farm team.

Habs' scoring came from Arturri Lehkonen, Nate Thompson, Jake Evans and an empty-netter from Nick Cousins. I cross my fingers that Lehkonen's late-season improvement of last year will carry over into this year. Thompson is a solid player (take that two ways) and should be a fixture on the third or fourth line. Cousins looks like a good bet to stay with the big team. About Evans, I'm not so sure, need to see more of him.

I'm betting on Charles Hudon to be sent down to Laval, again. Poor guy just can't finish. In the first period he had a glorious opportunity, standing unmarked about two feet to the left front of the NJ goalie, and fanned on the shot. Story of his life. Joining him on the bus will be Dale Weise, who just doesn't have the speed or finesse for the young and speedy Habs. Rookie Nick Suzuki, up from the juniors, has finesse and puck smarts, but needs to work on his skating, and -- let's face it -- is a bit on the small side. Maybe a season in the AHL, rather than with the big team, would do him good.

It was good to see Shea "Dad" Weber healthy and solid on the blue line, playing over 21 minutes without breaking a sweat. He got the assist on Lehkonen's tip-in. Brett Kulak looked out of shape, and should know that there's a rookie, Cale Fleury, who will be a contender for a regular start. So will another rookie, Josh Brook, and old(er)-timer Xavier Ouellet, who I like a lot.

All in all, I'm mildly encouraged. I don't see any glaring deficiencies at any position, and I do see some promising youngsters. No predictions yet, but good performances by a couple of talented rookies, backstopped by Weber and Price, could be all it takes to get the Canadiens into the playoffs.

BONUS VIDEO: By popular request, here, once again, is the excellent story of "The Hockey Sweater", written and narrated for the National Film Board video by Roch Carrier. No subtitles. If you gonna come on top da country `ere you better learn to talk like we do!



Cliquez ici pour voir la version française.

Poor Len Canayen's mid-season report on the Habs

Ed. here. For the Montreal Canadiens, aka "the Habs", it's now three games past the half-way point of the NHL season. I've been bugging our sports editor, Poor Len Canayen, to get his report in, but he wanted to wait a bit to see if he could discern a trend sufficient to enable him to make a prediction. Monday and Tuesday nights' games yielded mixed results so he has given up. He writes:

Tank youse, Ed. Let's start with the trend. The Canadiens are up and down like a toilet seat at a mixed party. After 44 games, they are 23-16-5, for a total of 51 points, or, in baseball parlance, .579. If the playoffs started this morning, they'd have the second and last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, but the New York Islanders are right behind them with 50 points and three games in hand. Will les Glorieux be there for the post-season? Hard to say.

What I can say, with pleasure, is that the Habs are having a much better season than anyone, including moi, predicted. GM Marc Bergevin made some major deals in the summer which are paying off handsomely. Notable are the acquisitions of Max Domi, Tomas Tatar and whiz kid Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who are all contributing to a much improved offence.

The defence corp is still iffy. Stalwart (and now captain) Shea Weber returned from injury in December -- not a moment too soon -- to relieve the pressure on Jordie Benn and (especially) Jeff Petry, but finding three more reliable D-men seems to be a challenge. Star goalie Carey Price has stayed healthy most of the season so far and seems to be regaining his form, albeit a bit slowly. According to the stats, backup Antti Niemi is the worst goalie in the league (starting 10+ games) but has more wins than losses to his credit.

Now for a closer look...

Forwards: Playing alongside Max Domi seems to be helping Jonathan Drouin, who last year delivered much less than expected, but this year is one of the Habs' leading scorers. Still need to play better in his own zone, though. Tough little guy Brendan Gallagher plays his heart out every night and has the goals (and bruises) to show for it. Deserves the "A" on his chest. Andrew Shaw, another scrappy little guy, has finally got his temper under control and is playing the best hockey of his career, IMHO. More Irishmen on the team, please!

M Bergevin got rid of the Russians and brought in Finns. Apart from Niemi and Kotkaniemi, there's Joel Armia, who's a decent 3rd or 4th liner, and Artturi Lehkonen, who IMHO plays like a Swede and should be traded to a team like Vancouver. One of the few authentic Canadiens on the team, Phillip Danault, is improving every year and has earned his spot at centre of the first line. Compatriot Charles Hudon is only playing because of injuries to others, and can be relied on only to choke, as he did last night.

Paul Byron, who missed quite a few games due to injury, still has his incredible speed but doesn't always have the finish when he gets to the opponents' net. The 4th line is a work in progress. Kenny Agostino works hard but hasn't got much to show for it. Matthew Peca is a defensive liability, and Michael Chaput has discipline issues. The guy I like is Nicolas Deslauriers; every team needs a tough forward and Nic's da man!

Defence: It's great to see Weber back after missing over a season with a game leg. He still has the cannon shot from the blue line, and still dishes out fear-inspiring checks, but his passing seems a little off, compared with yesteryear. He brings solid leadership to the team and is a great mentor for the others. But can he teach guys who don't want to be taught or don't have the talent? Veterans Karl Alzner and David Schlemko have been waived through the league and sent down to the Laval farm club. They will not be missed.

That leaves the youngsters -- Victor Mete, Brett Kulak and Mike Reilly -- who have all done time in Laval and are with the big team "on trial"... and because the Habs don't have anyone else. Mete has speed but not size. Kulak has the size but not the smarts, same as Reilly. Mete seems like the best bet for a permanent spot on the blue line, but Bergie still needs to find a couple of good, big, fearsome guys to beef up the defence. Hint: Alexei Emelin is cooling his heels in Russia and would surely welcome a phone call.

Goal: To what I wrote above, I will only add that, as we saw a week ago, if Carey Price gets sick or injured, putting all the work on the aging shoulders of Antti Niemi, the Canadiens will be in big trouble. Charlie Lindgren is the No. 1 goalie on the Laval Rocket, but IMHO is not the one you want behind the Habs' D. Too "hot", compared with the ultra-cool Price. Young Michael McNiven sat at the far end of the bench when Niemi started three games in a row at New Year's, but (in spite of being endorsed by Don Cherry) is an unknown quantity. A seasoned, reliable backup goalie is needed... soon!

To all the Habs fans who read WWW, our best wishes for the New Year! Les Canadiens seront là!

Poor Len Canayen: Alexei Emelin goes home!

Ed. here. To you and me, it may be Labour/Labor Day, but to Poor Len Canayen it's less than a month to the start of the National Hockey League's 2018-19 season. The outlook for our favourite NHL team, the Montréal Canadiens, is pretty gloomy. There were no spectacular trades or pick-ups during the off-season, defensive star Shea Weber is expected to miss at least the first three months, and all depends on goalie-of-goalies Carey Price having not just a good year, but a great year. It's quite possible the Habs might miss the playoffs for the second straight year, and if management (Allo, Geoff Molson et Marc Bergevin!) has a plan for fixing things, they're keeping it a secret.

From his shack in the Great No-longer-white North, Poor Len writes:

Tank youse, Ed. One of the reasons for the Habs' disastrous performance in 2017-18 was said management's failure and/or refusal to hang onto four Russian players who were at the heart of previous years' modest success:

• Alexandr Radulov - signed by Dallas as a free agent, for reasonable $$$ not offered by Montréal
• Mikhail Sergachev - promising rookie traded to Tampa Bay for Jonathan Drouin, who proved, errr, not much
• Andrei Markov - went home to Russia when he couldn't get a two-year deal at the end of a contest of wills with Bergevin, and
• Alexei Emelin - not protected in the expansion draft, claimed by Las Vegas who promptly traded him to Nashville, where he resumed his fight with arch hotdog P.K. Subban, leading to relegation (of Emelin) to only a minor defensive role.

About 13 months ago, when the approaching iceberg could be seen clearly even from the cheap seats of le Centre Bell [Where dey? Ed.], I advised, then begged Marc Bergevin to bring back the Russians! See "Time for Habs fans to panic?", WWW 28/9/17 and "Bring back the Russians!", WWW 9/10/17.

There was no way to repatriate [??? to Canada ??? Ed.] Radulov and Sergachev, but Markov could probably have been persuaded to break his KHL contract -- anything's possible in Russia -- and Nashville might have been open to a trade for Emelin, when it became clear he wasn't going to fit in there. But would the pig-headed Bergevin listen to me? Nooooo... And so the good ship Canadien hit the ice bergevin and went down with only 71 points. See "Poor Len Canayen's wrap-up of the Habs' annus horribilis", WWW 3/3/18.

So now it's a new year. I was pleased to see Markov's team, Ak Bars Kazan, win the KHL championship. He still has one year on his contract there. And guess who's going back to Russia to play in the same league? None other than... wait for it... Alexei Emelin! He's just signed with Avangard Omsk, who announced their good fortune with an image of the fearsome defenceman in his Habs sweater.

Now listen up, Marc, because I'm only going to say this one more time. In Russia, everything and everybody has a price. Especially in places like Kazan and Omsk, which are not exactly the centres of Russia, let alone the centres of the universe. How much could it take to convince their clubs to pry loose with Markov and Emelin, both of who are in their 30s [Markov will be 40 on December 20th. Ed.] and would be happy to return to the fleshpots of la Belle Province, provided that they can get a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Marc, I have heard you don't like Russians. But do you like winning? Do you like your job? Get on that phone, buddy. Get `em back here!!!

VIDEO: Poor Len Canayen: The Ultimate Six hockey stars

Fans of professional hockey will be aware that the National Hockey League was founded 100 years ago, in the fall of 1917. It is 8 years younger than the Montréal Canadiens, founded in 1909, but a 100th anniversary is still something to be celebrated, and when the organization has a promoter like (((Gary Bettman))) (no hockey man, he) at its head, you can be sure the PR machine will be in top gear. Which it is.

Canada Post has been quick to jump on the hypewagon. They've been issuing stamps featuring hockey and hockey players since 1955 -- top that! NFL --
and this year have published a set of six stamps commemorating the Ultimate Six Canadian Hockey Legends. Here they are.

These are the six Canucks (meaning their nationality, not their team!) whose names, numbers and achievements recall legendary moments in the history of the game. This being a project of the Canadian government, it will be noted that there are three French-Canadians (Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, and Mario Lemieux) and three Anglo-Canadians (Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr and Wayne Gretzky). Which is as it should be. (OK, Gretzky is a Polish name, but No. 99 was born in beautiful Brantford ON.)

It will also be noted that two of the Ultimate Six played for the Bleu-Blanc-et-Rouge. Not one Toronto Maple Leaf is included in the group. Why the picture of Rocket Richard is in black-and-white and the rest in colour is a mystery, but hey, that's Canada -- a land of mystery. Walt approves of the choices, and recommends that you buy some of these stamps, not to put on letters -- who does that, in 2017? -- but just to look at them when you feel sad that hockey ain't what it used to be. Where else can you get a picture of Jean Béliveau (my personal favourite) for just 85 Canadian cents (plus tax, of course)?

BONUS VIDEO: I am shocked, shocked that Walt [and Ed.! Ed.] have never shared with you the excellent story of "The Hockey Sweater", written and narrated for the National Film Board video by Roch Carrier. Here it is. No subtitles. If you gonna come on top da country `ere you better learn to talk like we do!



Cliquez ici pour voir la version française.

Poor Len Canayen's Stanley Cup predictions

Ed. here. The National Hockey League regular season ends in a couple of weeks. We haven't heard a whole lot from our National Hockey Analyst, Poor Len Canayen, presumably because "his" team (the Montréal Canadiens) have been atop the Atlantic division most of the year, so we call on him now to explain why Les Glorieux will win the Stanley Cup... or not. Len?

Thank you, Ed. Here is the view from Ste-Thérèse, or Centre Ice, as she is known en anglais. Although the final standings are yet to be finalized, the picture of which teams will make the playoffs is pretty clear. I'll run it down for you, so you'll know which way to bet. First, the four contenders in each division.

Metropolitan Division
A much stronger division than could have been expected at the beginning of the year, thanks to an amazing run by the Columbus Bluejackets, backstopped by Sergei Bobrovsky, who looks to have a lock on the Vezina Trophy.
Washington Capitals finish in first, followed by Columbus, Pittsburgh Penguins and, just to make up the numbers, Tampa Bay Lightning.

Atlantic Division
After the first 11 games of the season, I figured the Montréal Canadiens would run away with the division, the Eastern Conference, and maybe the entire NHL. I didn't think they'd have to struggle to finish first. But they did and they will, provided Carey Price stays healthy and happy under Claude Julien. The Toronto Maple Leafs, with three great rookies, look to be in the playoffs, as do the Ottawa Senators, making possible a three-cornered battle to advance.
Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto and New York Rangers should be the final four, but I'm hedging my bet with a little money on Boston Bruins.

Central Division
The Chicago Blackhawks dominate the division and the Western Conference, with all-star forwards and fine coaching from Joel Quenneville. The Minnesota Wild (stupid name -- what's wrong with "Moose" or some other animal?) deserve to finish second.
Chicago, Minnesota, Nashville Predators, and St. Louis Blues. Only the first two matter.

Pacific Division
Two more Canadian teams look like going to the playoffs. Well, one, anyway -- the Edmonton Oilers. The Anaheim Ducks (formerly Mighty Ducks) and San Jose Sharks are the ones to beat. Bet on the Calgary Flames to squeak into the playoffs, only just.
Anaheim, San Jose, Edmonton, Calgary.

Now for my fearless predictions.

Quarter-finals

In the Metropolitan Division, I see the Caps choking, as usual. You can have a great goaltender (Braden Holtby) but you need more than one guaranteed ace scorer. If you have one, you're got a chance, which lets Columbus out. Winner: Pittsburgh Penguins.
If they do make it into the playoffs, Rangers won't go beyond the first round in the Atlantic Division. "King Henry" Lundqvist is past his best-by date. I'd love to see Montréal and Toronto clash, for the first time in many years. The Maple Laffs have been unable to beat the Habs since, errr, 2014, so that's a no-brainer. If it's Montréal vs Ottawa, you pick 'em. Winner: Montréal Canadiens.

Calling the Central Division is easy. The only question is how many games it will take Chicago to dispose of Minnesota. Winner: Chicago Blackhawks.
When it comes to the Pacific Division, I'm going to forget the analytics, and perhaps common sense too. Calgary will be lucky to be in the playoffs at all, but could be spoilers. My hope is for the Oilers to face off against the Sharks or the Ducks and surprise them, with the series-winning goal to be scored by... wait for it... little David Desharnais! Winner: Edmonton Oilers. [I'll take that bet. Ed.]

Semi-finals

Eastern Conference - I can only avoid statistics, analytics and common sense for so long. The Canadiens have the Greatest Goaltender in the World (TM) in Carey Price, but not one single forward that you can count on to score. The Penguins' goaltending is suspect, but with Sid the Kid and at least two other certified scorers, I don't see how they can lose. Pittsburgh over Montréal in 5 games, or 6, tops. Sorry.
Western Conference - Following the same reasoning, I don't think it matters much who wins the Pacific Division. The Blackhawks have the size and the speed, plus adequate goaltending and a bunch of guys who can find the back of their opponents' nets. Chicago beats Oilers in 5, or (if I was dreaming back there) Sharks in 7.

Stanley Cup Finals

That sets us up for another Chicago-Pittsburgh match-up, which would be a terrific contest between two evenly-matched teams, both of whom have hoisted Lord Stanley's silverware recently. My bet would be Chicago, in 7 close games. Lifetime pct .985.

Why did "Dr. C.K." pay $20,000 for this ad?

Poor Len Canayen here with the first of occasional comments on what's happening in the National Hockey League, and the progress of the Montréal Canadiens.

Canada's favourite team opened the 2016-17 season in Buffalo last night, beating the Sabres 4-1. The new-look Habs played nicely as a team, absent the showboating shenanigans of P.K. Subban, traded to the Nashville Predators (as predicted here, ahem ahem) at the end of June. For P.K., Montréal got a great all-round defenceman, Shea Weber, who contributed an assist plus solid checking to last night's victory. I understand Subban got an empty-net goal the other night in Nashville, but, IMHO, the Habs got the better of the trade.

Some Canadiens fans disagree. Just before the last pre-season game at the Bell Centre, one could hear a few of them attempting to get a "P.K.! P.K.!" chant going, but it petered out when the puck dropped, and the disgruntled fans -- Anglos, no doubt -- were silenced by a first-rate performance by Weber as les Glorieux whupped the Toronto Maple Laffs 6-1.

But there are still a few die-hards. One of them, a chap who styles himself "Dr. CK" took out a full-page ad in yesterday's Montreal Gazette to say that the trade has changed the way the "lifelong fan" feels about the team. "Now, I feel anger, disappointment and embarrassment over the treatment of P.K. Subban by team management: the same sentiments that many felt after the Patrick Roy trade," sez the good doctor.

Then comes the praise-singing. "You are an amazing and influential role model for my children," the ad goes on, "and I am going to miss not having you as a Montreal Canadien."

When I read that and the rest of the anti-French drivel -- "Dr. CK" says (in English) he cannot support Habs general manager Marc Bergevin and coach Michel Therrien, and that going to Habs games would be a vote of confidence in their leadership -- I began to wonder about the true identity of the advertiser. Who could "Dr. CK" really be?

The general tone of the loose and omnipotent rubric reminded me of the many articles written by one-time Gazoo sports scribe Dave Stubbs, the one who called P.K. Subban a "transcendant defenceman". See "Poor Len Canayen explains Habs' Subban for Weber trade", WWW 29/6/16. I had described Stubbsy previously as chief cheerleader for Subban, and wondered (in fact if not in print) if Mr Stubbs was getting backhanders from P.K.'s agent to write so effusively about He Who Must Not Be Criticized.

Turns out the author of the ad -- which cost C$20,000 ($15,200 in real money) by the way -- wasn't Dave Stubbs, but one, Dr. Charles Kowalski. Interviewed by CBC News, the man behind the ad said it wasn't just about losing Subban. ​"I think the loss of P.K. Subban from Montreal, the bigger issue than hockey is the loss of his presence in the city of Montreal and his cause of raising money for the Children's Hospital," he said. "This is more important than the game of hockey."

Replying for la Sainte Flannelle, Donald Beauchamp told CBC News, "We have very passionate fans, and everyone is entitled to their opinion." Indeed. Poor Len is one of those passionate fans -- could you tell? -- and my opinion is that the Canadiens are a much better team this year. If Dr. Kowalski thinks so highly of P.K., perhaps he could follow his idol to Nashville. And one more thing, Doctor. Your $20,000 would have made a nice contribution to the hospital, instead of being wasted on this tripe!

Footnote: Yes, I am aware that Dave Stubbs no longer works for the Gazoo. I'm sure his departure from the sports desk in the middle of the season had nothing whatever to do with his adulation of the "transcendant defenceman".

Poor Len explains what ails the Habs (and it's not just Subban)

Poor Len here, fighting depression after watching last night's game between the Montréal Canadiens and the Detroit Redwings. At the end of the second period, les Glorieux were leading 2-1. Then came a swift and terrible third-period let-down, with the Wings scoring two goals in just over a minute, to prevail 3-2.

3-2 is becoming a depressingly familiar score. Here are the results for the Habs' last four games:
3/12 - Washington 3 - Montréal 2
5/12 - Carolina 3 - Montréal 2
9/12 - Boston 3 - Montréal 1 (only)
10/12 - Detroit 3 - Montréal 2
That makes four straight losses for la Sainte Flanelle, in which they allowed three goals while scoring, errr, not so many. It's not a good trend, eh. Let me tell you what the team's problems are.

First, defensive mistakes. Contrary to my prediction of December 1st, P.K. Subban did not learn to play defence, as he needs to in the absence of Carey Price. Instead, he has gone back to his old, risky, puck-hogging ways, getting trapped far too often deep in the other team's zone, leading to odd-man rushes, leading to goals against. Last night, with less than two minutes to play, and the Habs pressing for the equalizer, P.K. shot the puck over the glass, leading him to the sin-bin and the team to defeat. Bah.

But let me not point the finger at Subban alone. Also weak, in his last three games -- he watched from the press box last night -- was Nathan Beaulieu. I have never been impressed with his defensive play, but he made up for it with speed on the transition, contributing to the team's offence. That's fine if you have Carey Price to bail you out when you turn the puck over, but now Price is not right, which brings us to

Problems between the pipes. Carey Price is not expected back for another four weeks. That means Montréal's second- and third-string goalies have to take up the slack. They're trying. Dustin Tokarski (No. 3), who never had my confidence, couldn't be faulted on last night's three goals, and Mike Condon (No. 2) has played well enough to win. But, unlike Carey Price, Condon and Tokarski are mere mortals, and can't be counted on to allow no more than two goals per game. That means the team in front of them must score more than one or two goals a game. Which brings us to

Sputtering offence. This was the Habs' greatest problem last year, manifesting itself particularly in the playoffs, when they just couldn't buy a goal. Starting this season with 9 straight wins and leading the league in +/-, lack of offence seemed to be a thing of the past. Everybody (except Tom Gilbert) was scoring and the team's goals-for average in October was well over 3. But now a scoring drought has set in.

It's hard to pinpoint the scoring problems. What I've been seeing is too many passes, a lot of too-fancy plays, and too many shots from the blue line with no-one in front of the opposing goalie to pick up the garbage. The team misses wee Brendan Gallagher. Without him, and with injuries to two or three other starting forwards, coach Michel Therrien has had to call up reserves from the AHL St. John's Icecaps.

Last night saw no fewer than four Icecaps players filling in. They try hard, and in the last week guys like Sven Andrighetto and Paul Byron have contributed to the scoring, so the real problem lies with the old, established guys like Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec and David Desharnais. Their hands/sticks/whatever have gone cold, possibly because Therrien keeps juggling the lines, so they never know who they're playing with, from one shift to the next.

How would I fix the problems? Errr... I don't know. Let us pray for the return, ASAP, of Price and Gallagher [Don't forget Torrey Mitchell. Ed.] and, in the meantime, hope that all the guys, especially the defencemen, will concentrate, focus on winning, give 110%, yada yada yada. Let us hope...

Canada's team MIA from "Hockey Night in Canada"

Poor Len Canayen here. It's the eve of Canadian Thanksgiving and I'm NOT giving thanks to Canada's sports media for discriminating against Canada's team in the National [sic] Hockey League, the Montréal Canadiens.

For over sixty years, Hockey Night in Canada, has been a must-watch programme on CBC. Indeed, it's probably the only programme that over a million Canadians watch with any regularity. Last night was the first Saturday of the NHL's 2015-16 season, with all seven Canadian teams in action. Le Canadien -- the only team with fans right across Canada, from Squamish to Dildo, were playing at Boston. But which two games did HNIC treat viewers to? Ottawa at Toronto, and... wait for it... Edmonton at Nashville!

The Ottawa v Toronto game wasn't bad, featuring a remarkable comeback by the Leafs to force a shoot-out, which they lost. But the Edmonton v Nashville match-up was by all accounts a total snorefest. The game at Boston, however, was more of a slugfest -- traditional when the Habs meet the Bruins -- with 20 minutes in penalties and two goals in the final minute. Les Glorieux emerged triumphant, 4-2.

So how come Canadian viewers didn't get to see that? I will explain... and condemn! Back in 2014, the NHL (G. Bettman, Prop.) sold the Canadian TV rights to Canada's biggest cable company, Robbers [Rogers, surely! Ed.], which thus acquired HNIC. The CBC, faced with the loss of its top revenue generator, grovelled abjectly enough to be given a "lease" on the Saturday night staple, but Rogers retained control of the property, which it also distributes on its own City-TV channels.

We're not just talking English TV here. Robbers also got the rights to all French programmes, which it divided between TVA and RDS, with Société Radio-Canada left out of the picture. That didn't really matter, since SRC had ceded the estimable Soirée du Hockey to RDS years ago. However, with Robbers controlling distribution, the French channels, which had previously been available right across the Great Not-so-white North, have been blacked out everywhere west of Québec and a small chunk of eastern Ontario.

It gets worse. Rogers -- greedy bastards that they are -- forced Bell, which distributes TV signals by satellite and fibre-optic cable, to go along with its national/regional lineup, all designed to force subscribers to pay an extra over C$200 per season for an "all hockey all the time" package called NHL Centre Ice.

1000s of Canadiens fans west of Québec (most of whom can understand at least some French) refused, and were belatedly offered what Bell/Rogers call the "NHL French package" for only C$60. For that, you're supposed to be able to get all... all... of the Habs games on TVA and RDS, on two channels featuring "Le forfait LNH en français". Was the Montréal game on either of those channels last night? Err, no. Was any game shown? Err, no. The "LNH gratuit" appeared to be a CCTV video of the inside of a coal bin at midnight.

Having complained to Bell and got no satisfaction, I am now going to fire a rocket in the direction of the CRTC. And to Robbers, which has put all its HNIC eggs in the Maple Laffs basket, I say: I hope you lose your blue shirts!

"Hockey Night in Canada" -- errr, not so much any more

Poor Len Canayen here. [What? Still?! Ed.] The sun is setting. Night is falling. Soon it will be Saturday night -- Hockey Night in Canada.

Notice from Rogers, Bell TV and the Canadian Broadcorping Castration. Some restrictions apply!

Due to a sweetheart deal between Rogers and the National Hockey League (G. Bettman, prop.), Hockey Night in Canada will no longer be offering games featuring Canada's team -- the Montréal Canadiens -- every Saturday as it did for the last century. Instead, the Canadian content will be provided by the Toronto Maple Laffs. Viewers who wish to see a real team are welcome to subscribe to NHL Centre Ice, at a modest extra charge. Call Rogers or Bell for details, and have your platinum credit card ready.

But never fear. HNIC is committed, as always, to viewer choice...as long as the viewer makes the same choice as Mr. Bitchman. There is a second game available on Rogers/Bell's basic service. Tonight, if you don't want to watch Toronto lose, you can watch Team Crosby (aka the Pittsburgh Penguins) play the Brooklyn Islanders. [That happens next year! Ed.] Some choice.

It makes my bleu-blanc-et-rouge blood boil. I have a good mind to write to someone, but I don't know who. Obviously G. Bettman doesn't give two shits for what the fans want, only for whatever brings in the most revenue. How could a New York Jewish lawyer think like that?!